Lee Soo-man

Lee Soo-man (born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean musician, MC, and the founding chairman and producer of S.M. Entertainment, South Korea's largest entertainment company. He was a pioneer of the Hallyu Wave and therefore named as 'the President of culture'.

Lee started his career as a singer while attending Seoul National University in 1972. He founded the agency in 1989, which is now one of the largest management and record labels in South Korea.

Biography

1952–1972: Early years

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea on 18 June 1952, and entered Seoul National University. He began singing in a coffee house in 1971.

1972–1980: Singer years

Lee debuted as a member of the defunct folk music duo April and May (4월과 5월) in 1972, and by 1976, with hits like "Happiness", and "One piece of Dream", his career began to take off. The following year, he received the MBC TOP 10 Singer award. Besides singing, he became a successful TV host during that time.

1980–1985: Studying in US

He formed the band 이수만과 365일 (Lee Soo Man and 365 days) in 1980, which became the first heavy metal band formed in the Korean music industry. But, at the same time, the new Chun Doo-hwan government began its policy of censoring the media. As a result, Lee saw no real future in Korean entertainment. The next year, 1981, he went back to pursuing his original dream of being a top engineer and moved to California to attend California State University, Northridge and to continue work on his master's degree. However, Lee witnessed the revolution of US entertainment at that time, and felt there was huge commercial potential in that industry in Korea.